Don’t be surprised April 11 if the annual conservation hearings in Wisconsin’s 72 county seats detour early to discuss this fall’s deer hunting seasons.

After all, deer hunters statewide were shocked last week when citizens serving on the Waupaca County Deer Advisory Council voted unanimously to impose antlerless-only hunting seasons this autumn in hopes of slowing the herd’s growth. The group’s 6-0 preliminary decision to eliminate hunting for antlered bucks from September through early January isn’t final, but it highlights that few options exist for managing whitetails in Wisconsin’s most deer-rich counties.

The Waupaca CDAC also OKed an antlerless-only firearms hunt Dec. 24 to Jan. 1. All CDACs make their final recommendations in public meetings April 18-21.

The only other deer-control option the Department of Natural Resources could offer the CDACs was to flood hunters with free antlerless tags. Although the Waupaca CDAC also voted to give each hunter three such tags, history suggests relatively few hunters use free antlerless tags unless forced to do so.

The CDACs cannot impose earn-a-buck restrictions, which require hunters to shoot an antlerless deer before killing an antlered buck. In 2011, state Sens. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, and Terry Moulton, R-Chippewa Falls, led efforts to eliminate EAB, and Gov. Scott Walker signed the bill after it passed the Senate and Assembly. DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp stayed silent throughout the debate, despite strong EAB support among agency wildlife biologists.

On the other end of the spectrum, CDACs in nine counties — Ashland, Douglas, Florence, Forest, Iron, Jackson, Oneida, Sawyer and Vilas — voted for buck-only hunts this fall. Deer numbers in many forested and Northwoods regions remain low, prompting opposition to antlerless hunting.

Therefore, despite a 32-page questionnaire featuring 45 topics to review during the annual spring hearings next Monday, it’s possible many of the 72 meetings will devote extensive time to the CDAC update, which is No. 4 on the hearings’ agendas.

Although the spring hearings aren’t set up to take public comment on CDAC recommendations, it might prove difficult to prevent people from trying. In fact, WCC vice chairman Larry Bonde, Manitowoc, said he would allow a hand count if attendees request it.

“A lot of people now wish we had earn-a-buck, so why not let them discuss it?” Bonde said. “This process is showing people that managing deer isn’t as easy as everyone thought it would be.”

Still, Bonde encourages people to visit the CDAC’s page on the DNR website, http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/cdac.html, to provide feedback during the April 4-17 public-comment period. The site includes deer data and hunting-season recommendations for all 72 counties.

The spring hearings are a joint effort of the DNR and Wisconsin Conservation Congress, the 360-member delegation that’s legislatively sanctioned to advise the seven-citizen DNR Board, which sets agency policy.

The DNR and WCC convene the statewide public hearings annually on the second Monday of April at 7 p.m. Unlike other public hearings, attendees mark ballots to support or reject proposed changes to DNR fish and wildlife rules. Of this year’s 45 questions, four are proposed rule changes, none of which involve fishing.

The other 41 items are “advisory questions” from the DNR, WCC and DNR Board, meaning just that: for advice only. If approved, advisory questions usually must be brought back to the spring hearings the following April for consideration as formal rules.

Buy Photo

Wisconsin’s annual conservation hearings will be held April 11 in all 72 county seats. In addition to voting on 45 fish and wildlife question, attendees will hear their county’s recommendations for the 2016 deer season.(Photo: Patrick Durkin/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Of this year’s four formal rule proposals, three involve whether hunters should be allowed to leave portable blinds and treestands overnight on state-owed lands north of State 64. The fourth question merely asks whether the state should define legal hours for shooting game as “shooting hours” instead of the current term, “hunting hours.”

Once attendees get past those four nonissues, they’ll consider some interesting advisory questions. For instance, should the DNR …

» Keep issuing antlerless permits on a first-come, first-served basis, or through a random drawing or preference system?

» Shorten the trapping season for beaver and otter by two to four weeks on non-trout waters in northern Wisconsin?

» Create a local public notice and input process separate from the spring hearings to quickly change regulations for specific fish species, or to change fish-consumption advisories?

Attendees also will be asked if they would …

» Favor repealing Act 1, the iron-mining law from 2013.

» Favor a moratorium on new permits for frac-sand mining and processing until completing and implementing new rules from the Strategic Analysis of Industrial Sand Mining.

» Support requiring nontoxic shot on all state-managed lands.

» Support requiring nontoxic fishing tackle under a half-ounce.

» Support legislation to return the appointment of the DNR secretary to the DNR Board.

» Favor legislation to exempt fish and wildlife rules from Act 21, which has lengthened the process to at least 18 months.

» Favor a statutory change to allow bear hunters to apply for preference points up to six years at a time.